In quite a few of the cathedrals and abbeys we’ve gone to, we noticed rather modern and funky looking stained-glass windows, like the ones above from Winchester cathedral.

We assumed the windows had been blown out during the war from the bombings and when it came to rebuilding, the churches decided to forgo their saints and sinners in favor of some abstract art. But then we learned that it was in fact a much earlier war that had destroyed the windows, the British Civil War (1640s), when parliamentary troops went around and threw rocks at church and cathedral windows. (They had a beef with the church apparently…) After the war was over, instead of re-building the windows from scratch many churches simply assembled the broken pieces back into the windows with no pattern or plan. Voilà – modern masterpieces!